Removable jaw faces for a slidable jaw wrench



Jan. 21, 1958 F. M. SCHULZE 2,820,385

REMOVABLE JAW FACES FOR A SLIDABLE JAW WRENCH Filed Sept. 4, 1956 United States Patent REMOVABLE JAW FACES FOR A SLIDABLE JAW WRENCH Fred M. Schulze, Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada Application September 4, 1956, Serial No. 607,808

3 Claims. (Cl. 81-180) This invention relates to an improved wrench construction and also to removable adapter members forming part of said wrench construction.

The jaws of a standard wrench such as that used for turning nuts have parallel jaw faces whereas the jaws of a pipe wrench have outwardly diverging faces. This means that a workman should be equipped with at least two wrenches of the same size. As a number of differently sized wrenches of each type may be needed to deal with a full range of nuts, pipes and the like, a large assortment of wrenches is necessary. This results in a high cost of providing proper equipment and is a particular disadvantage to the home mechanic who cannot afford the requisite financial outlay. The service man or travelling repair man is also handicapped because the assortment of wrenches which he must carry with him adds considerably to the weight of his equipment.

It has previously been proposed that adapter jaws be used to convert one type of wrench to the other, but these have suffered from the disadvantage of requiring difficult and time consuming operations to make the conversion, have been too flimsy for practical use or have necessitated a specially constructed wrench, often of complex and hence costly structure.

The object of this invention is to provide improved adapter members for a wrench which can be attached to a conventional wrench and which can readily be secured in position and removed and yet which are fully effective in operation.

A further object of the invention in its preferred aspect is to provide adapter members for converting a standard wrench to a pipe wrench, one of which pivots to provide good contact with the pipe surfaces.

The manner in which the foregoing is achieved in accordance with this invention will be apparent from the description which follows of the preferred embodiment of this invention and from the appended claims.

In the drawings which illustrate the preferred embodiment of this invention.

Figure 1 is an elevation view of a wrench fitted with adapter jaws in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the wrench shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a top plan View of the wrench shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a perspective elevation detail view of a pair of adapter members regarded from one side.

Figure 5 is a perspective elevation detail view of a pair of adapter members regarded from the other side.

Figures 6 and 7 are detail perspective views showing modifications of the upper jaw adapter member.

Referring now to Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings, the wrench illustrated comprises an upper jaw 10 integrally formed with a body portion 14 and a shank 11. The lower jaw 12 of the wrench is integrally connected to a guide member 13 which slides within a keyway 15 extending through the body portion 14. Guide member 13 has a rack 16 which is engaged by a worm gear 17 mounted in a slot 18 by pin 19 for relative adjustment of lower jaw 12 with respect to upper jaw 10. The upper jaw face 20 is parallel to lower jaw face 21. The upper jaw structure includes a pair of triangular bracing webs 22 which conform with broken away recesses 23 of the lower jaw. The lower jaw has a central triangular bracing web 24v which conforms with a central recess 25 in the upper jaw. The foregoing represents a conventional wrench structure to which adapter members in accordance with the inven tion are applied.

The adapter members shown in detail in Figures 4 and 5 of the drawings and illustrated in position on the wrench in Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings comprise an upper jaw adapter member 26 and a lower jaw adapter member 27 joined together by a connecting member 28. Upper jaw adapter member 26 has an adapter jaw face 29 which is substantially parallel to upper jaw face 20 and which has a knurled surface. Upper jaw adapter member 26 is secured in position by an anchor portion which fits closely between webs 22 and which extends into central recess 25. Means are provided for resiliently pressing adapter member 26 against upper jaw 10. In the preferred embodiment the last mentioned means comprises the connecting member 28 which is a V-shaped spring wire and which has its ends bent to extend through, transverse apertures 31 and 32 in the upper and lower jaw adapter members respectively. The extreme ends 33 and 34 of connecting member 28 are turned as best shown in Figure 5 to retain the connecting member in position while permitting pivotal movement between the connecting member and each jaw adapter member.

Lower jaw adapter member 27 has an adapter jaw face 35 which is angularly inclined to lower jaw face 21 so that adapter jaw faces 29 and 35 diverge outwardly. Adapter jaw face 35 is knurled similarly to adapter jaw face 29. Adapter member 27 includes a pair of spaced anchor portions 36 and 37 respectively to engage each side of web 24 to fit within recesses 23. As anchor portions 36 and 37 will not secure the lower jaw adapter member as firmly as the upper jaw adapter member is secured by anchor portion 30 it is preferred that the lower jaw adapter member also include a pair of flanges 38 and 39 which depend downwardly from its outer end to engage each side of lower jaw 12 to prevent lateral displacement of the lower jaw adapter member. Anchor portions 36 and 37 are preferably shaped to leave a space 40 between the outer side 41 of recess 23 and the respective anchor portions and a transverse groove 42 is provided at the junction between portions 36 and 37 and the main body of the lower jaw adapter member to define a fulcrum shoulder 43 for pivotal movement of the lower jaw adapter member to give a firm grip on the pipe. Anchor portions 36 and 37 also help to tilt the lower jaw adapter member as they are in contact with surface 14a of body portion 14 of the wrench.

The jaw adapter members can conveniently and rapidly be inserted to convert the wrench into a pipe wrench. The pipe wrench is used in a conventional manner. The knurled upper jaw adapter member surface 29 engages one side of a pipe and then rotation of the shank 11 of the wrench in a clockwise direction wedges knurled lower adapter face 35 against the other side of the pipe. The outward presssure of the pipe against the jaw adapter faces together with the anchor portions of the jaw adapter members prevent the jaw adapter members from being displaced during use. When, however, it is desired to reconvert the wrench the jaw adapter members can readily be removed by merely pressing the jaw adapter members inwardly towards each other against the infiuence of connecting member 28.

In the modification illustrated in Figures 6 and 7, the; faces 29a and 29b of the upper jaw members 26a and 27b respectively are in the case of Figure 6 formed to provide an outward taper and in the case of Figure 7 to give an inward taper. Both of these modifications are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention.

In addition to the advantages which have previously been described, a construction in accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention has proved to be useful under conditions in which a conventional pipe wrench cannot be used for example, in tight quarters and where the pipe to be manipulated is difficultly accessible.

I claim:

1. An adapter structure for use with a wrench of the type having a pair of jaws which are relatively movable towards and away from each other, a pair of strengthening webs on one jaw conforming with recesses in the other jaw and a strengthening web on said other jaw conforming with a central recess in said one jaw, comprising an adapter member for said one jaw having an adapter jaw face and an anchorage portion fitting between said pair of strengthening webs and extending into said central recess, an adapter member for said other jaw having an adapter jaw face and a pair of anchorage portions engaging each side of said strengthening web and extending into said recesses, one of said adapter jaw faces being angularly inclined to the jaw face of the corresponding jaw of the wrench to convert the wrench between a standard wrench and a pipe wrench and resilient means extending between said adapter members and pressing said adapter members against the jaws of the wrench.

2. An adapter structure as in claim 1 in which said resilient means comprises a V-shaped spring wire pivotally connected to each of said adapter members for pivotal movement of said adapter members about axes transverse to the adapter jaw faces.

3. An adapter structure as in claim 1 in which the adapter member for said other jaw face has a fulcrum shoulder in contact with said other jaw face and in which said anchorage portions thereof are spaced from the sides of said recesses to permit tilting movement of the last mentioned adapter member about an axis transverse to the adapter jaw faces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 454,893 Wakefield June 30, 1891 505,869 Wright Oct. 3, 1893 543,665 Wright July 30, 1895 608,358 Assorati Aug. 2, 1898 897,266 Bodey Sept. 1, 1908 1,055,757 King Mar. 11, 1913 1,350,671 Sayres Aug. 24, 1920 1,359,894 Hunter Nov. 23, 1920 1,472,517 Fry Oct. 30, 1923 1,492,478 Markovich Apr. 29, 1924 

